Let's just go ahead and state the obvious here: Pregnancy can be a killer on the body image. We gain weight. Things get stretched. Things that didn't used to jiggle now do. We're exhausted, have crazy hormonal stuff going on and hey, let's not forget the babies!

We also have a huge amount of other ladies going through the same thing.

Welcome to February 2013 Mommy Boot Camp: A place to come share your experiences, your triumphs, your worries and fears, progresses and plateaus. A place to find support, advice, friends and sometimes a much needed kick in the ass!

And of course, there are rules and guidelines:

1) THE GOLDEN RULE: Remember that there are a variety of women who have had a variety of different issues in regards to weight. It is in our nature to compare ourselves to others and attack instead of support at times. Save it. Obviously a plus-sized woman is going to have a different set of issues than a petite woman. There are women on the board who have battled eating disorders. If you are condescending, degrading, or diminish the problems of someone else you are out!

2) TRACKING THREADS: We don't need a post for every pound you lose or gain. This will just get the board bogged down with redundancy. That being said, you should absolutely be proud of your triumphs and talk yourself up! Create a thread called "So and So's Tracking Journal". Bookmark it. If you are a person who likes to put what they ate, lost, did for exercise everyday then put it in the comments. That way not only do you have a continuous thread that keeps your progress in chronological order but you can also share this progress with the friends you make in other discussions and bookmark those you want to follow. Look at this as a facts journal. Venting, celebrations and other things can certainly have a post of their own :) In fact, if you reach one of your goals, I encourage you to create a separate celebration post!

3) At the end of every month I will put a sticky thread for "This month's progress" which will have a format and give everyone a chance to show off their progress in one big collection. Kind of like a fun way to do a monthly reveal, which is of course completely optional in regards to participation.

That is really it for rules and guidelines. Feel free to post about recipes, programs, different exercises, difficulties you face, what works for you, what doesn't, product reviews, what you struggle with, what you're good at.